Anafi Sights: The Chora, Kastelli & the Monasteries
The sights of Anafi are its unspoilt Chora, the ancient city and Venetian castle at Kastelli, the pilgrimage monastery of Zoodochos Pigi on an ancient temple of Apollo, and the abandoned Kalamiotissa monastery on the huge Kalamos rock. The Chora is one of the most authentic capitals in the Cyclades; Kastelli holds the ruins of ancient Anaphe at 327 metres; Zoodochos Pigi stands on an isthmus in the south-east; and Kalamiotissa crowns the tallest rock on the east side. The Roman port of Katalymatsa lies on the coast below.
- Chora
- 260 m
- Kastelli
- 327 m
- Landmark
- Kalamos rock
- Monastery
- Kalamiotissa
The Chora
Anafi has one of the nicest and most unspoilt choras of all the Greek islands, authentic and full of pretty Cycladic houses with outdoor baking ovens. The Chora sits on a hill at 260 metres in the south-west, above the port of Agios Nikolaos, and dates from medieval times. Narrow cobbled streets climb between old and newer churches, some with Byzantine icons, up to the ruins of the old kastro. Cars are banned from most of the town, and finds from ancient Anafi are shown in the Archaeological Collection.
Kastelli and ancient Anaphe
Kastelli, at 327 metres, holds a Venetian castle and the remains of an old city on a cone-shaped hill. The ancient city of Anaphe, founded in the 8th century BC by the Dorians and flourishing in Roman times, stood here, and the Venetian castle later took its place. Among the ruins are burial chambers with niches, a water basin, traces of temples and stretches of the city walls, with many Roman artefacts. The most interesting find is a carved sarcophagus beside the small church of Panagia sto Dokari.
Zoodochos Pigi monastery
In the south-east of the island, on an isthmus, stand the remains of an ancient sanctuary of Apollo, and on the site rises the Zoodochos Pigi monastery. It has been a place of pilgrimage since the Turkish occupation, and substantial parts of the temple walls and of the temple itself can still be seen. A footpath leads to it, and some 9 kilometres from the Chora a small beach lies below, described in the Anafi beaches guide.
Kalamiotissa monastery
The old Kalamiotissa monastery stands on the highest and most impressive rock of Anafi, the huge Kalamos monolith on the east side of the island. The rock is unreachable by sea and hard to reach by land, and the monastery is now abandoned. It is the island's landmark, a dramatic sight visible from far out at sea and the goal of the island's best walk.
Katalymatsa (Roman port)
On the coast below lie the remains of an old Roman port called Katalymatsa. It adds to the ancient sites scattered across Anafi, from the city at Kastelli to the temple beneath the Zoodochos Pigi monastery, and rounds out a day among the island's ruins. How the sights fit into the wider island is set out in the Anafi island guide.
